Machine for coating fabrics.



1. F..WH|TE & L. BL'ROSS.

MACHINE FOR COATING FABRICS.

APPLICATION FILED APR-15,!9I4.

Patented July 25, 1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l- J. F. WHITE & L. B. ROSS.

MACHINE FOR COATING FABRICS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 15, 1914.

1 ,1 92., 1 43. Patented July 25, 1916, I 4 SHEETSSHEET 2,

a l l J. F. WHITE & L. 8. R088. MACHINE FOR COATING FABRICS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I5, 1914.

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J. F. WHITE & L. B. ROSS.

MACHINE FOR COATING FABRICS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 15. 1914. 1,1 92,1&3, Patented July 25,1916.

' 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIoE.

JOHN E. mm LABRON B. ROSS, or CHICAGO, rumors; SAID ROSS assrcnon TO A SAID WHI E,

MACHINE FOR COATING FABRICS.

Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Coating Fabrics, of which the following is a specification;

The principal objects of the invention are.

theprovision in one machine of means for most efficiently coating or impregnating on one or both sides, as may be desired, or coat ing on both/sides with material of one composition and adding to one side immediately thereafter a surface coating of a different composition; the machine also ineludes improved means for drying the coated fabric, the maintenance of the fabric under proper tension, the treatment at different speeds and temperatures, the reverse movement of the fabric tocorrect imperfections or irregularities of coating, and the taking up or absorbing of slack during such reverse movement, as well as other advantageous features of construction, arrangement, and operation which will become apparent as the description proceeds. I

In order that the invention may be readily understood by those skilled in the art a preferred embodiment of the same is set forth in the accompanying drawings and in the subjoined description based thereon. As, however, the invention is susceptible of various modifications and capable of being embodied in other constructional forms the drawings and description are to be construed in an illustrative and not in an unnecessarily limiting sense. I

In the drawings-Figures 1 and 1 together represent in vertical longitudinal section such preferred embodiment of the invention, certain of the medial portion being broken away; Figs. 2 and 2 together represent a plan view of the same; Fig. 3 is an enlargeddetail in vertical section of the tank arranged for single coating and showing also in dotted lines'the arrangement for impregnating; Fig. 4-is a similar view showing the arrangement for double coating and also indicating in dotted lines the arrangement for successively impregnating and coating; Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail in vertical section of the tensioning reel and slack absorber; Fig. 6 is a fragmentary enlarged detail of the means for angularly adjusting the scrapers;

Specification of Letters Patent.

- Application filed April 15, 1914. Serial No. 831,919.

and Fig. 7 is \a similar detail partly in section of the brush clutch operating connections.

As illustrated, the web of fabric to be treated is represented at 11 from which it is conducted past the recording meter 12, over a roller 13 and supports 14 forming ways, through a split tension reel and slack ab= sorber 15 (to be hereinafter described in detail), around the roller 16 to the coating tank indicated generally at 17. After being coat- ;ed Within the tank by thecotiperation of mechanism to be hereinafter described the web of fabric 11 is conductedby means of the driven rollers 18,18 around the adjustable roller 19, also driven, and thence in a reverse direction over the driven rollers 20, 20, around the guide roller 21, through the dusting box 22 between the brushes 23, 23, from whence it is conducted around the driven rollers 24 and past the recording meter 25 to the take-up drum 26.

The conducting rollers 18, 19, 20 and 24 are driven from the main drive shaft 27 by means of suitable sprockets and a sprocket chain 28 and upon the drive shaft are mounted stepped pulleys 29, 29 driven by the belt 30 from any suitable source of power. The counter shaft 31 is driven from the drive pulley 32 by means of th belt 33 and the said counter shaft is connected by means of the belt 34 with the shaft of the tensioning and rewinding reel 15. The pulley 35 on the counter shaft 31 is in turn connected by means of the belt 36 with the dusting brushes 23.

The belt 30 may be shifted to any one of the stepped pulleys 29 by well known means within the control of the operator to vary the speed of the machine. A clutch 37 is arranged in the drive shaft under the control of a lever 38 which is operable by means of the connecting wires 39 passing around suitable guide pulleys and leading to the hand lever 40 adjacent the operators position at the coating tank. The control wires may be connected at 421 (Fig. .2?) to branch control wires 41 leading to the clutch lever 42 by means of which the shaft of the tension and rewinding reel 15 is engaged and disengaged of the counter shaft 31 with its pulleys 35,

whereby the several clutches may be operdivided in two compartments 44, 45 by means of the partition 46 in order to adapt the same for both single or double coating with different compositions. Both compartments may be filled with the same com-,'

position or the partition may be dispensed with." Suitably journald within the wall 47 is a shaft 48 driven by a hand wheel 49 and carryinga pinion 50 in mesh with the rack 51 carried by a frame 52 guided for vertical movement above the compartment 44 of. the tank. Aseries of conducting rolls 53, 54 and 55 are journaled in the frame 52 and adapted to be elevated with the frame above the surface of the composition 56 as indicated in Fig. 3, or immersed within the said composition as indicated in Fig. 4. Above the roll 53 is a V-shaped scraper 57 adapted to be angularly adjustedby means of the hand wheel 58, the shaft 59 of which is pinned at 60 to the said scraper, the ad- -justed position of the scraper being maintained by means of the set screw 61 (Fig. 6).

Above the scraper 57 is mounted a pair of scrapers 62 and 63, the former inclosing' within its angle a steam heating pipe 64. Likewise journaled within the wall 47 is a 2-part tensioning device 65. between the members of which the web of fabric 11 is conducted from the roller 16, the said tensioning device adapted to be angularlyxadjusted by means of the hand wheel 66 in order to exert a greater or less degree of tension upon the web traversing the same.

Above the compartment 45 of the coating tank is journaled within the wall 47 a shaft 67 rotatable by means of the hand wheel Y68 and carrying a pinion 69 in mesh with the rack 70 having journaled in its lower end a conducting roll 71. By means of the rack and pinion the said roll 71 is adapted to be. raised and lowered vertically above the compartment 45. Another conducting roll 72 5 is mounted in the walls of the tank in parallelism to the roll 71, bothv the rolls 71 and 72 being above the level of the composition 73 in the compartment 45. A ductor roll 74 is mounted beneath the rolls 71 and 72 in such manner as to dip with, its lower periphery below the surface of the composition, the upper periphery of the ductor roll extending upwardly between the rolls 71 and 72-. The ductor roll 74 is driven by means of a sprocket chain 75 under the control of the sprocket chain 28. Immediately above the edge wall of the tank 17 is a guide roller 76 and to one side and above the guide roller 76 is another guide roller 7 7.

The weight of the frame 52 is counterbalanced by means of a counterweight 78 .con-

sion may be made for counterbalancing the weight of the rack 70 and the roll 71 although not found to be necesary under ordinary circumstances.

Above the tank 17 and, as illustrated, above the partition 46 is mounted a pair of squeeze rolls 81 and 82 driven by means of intermeshing gears upon the ends of their axles and one driven by means of the sprocket 83 from the ductor roll. The peripheries of the squeeze rolls 81,82, are in adjustable yielding contact and serve to express the composition from the saturated fabric. fed therebetween. I

When the machine is used for single coating the web of fabric is conducted from the roller 16 (Fig. 3) downwardly around the conducting rolls 71 and 72 and thence around the guide rollers 76 and 77 to-the driven conducting roller 18, the roll 71 hav ing' been lowered from the inactive position indicated in Figs. 1 and 4 to the active position indicated in Fig. 3 by which the lower surface of the fabric is pressed against the periphery of the ductor roll 74 and is coated thereby with the composition 73, the surplus beingremoved by means of the scraper 84. When used for double coating (Fig. 4) the web of fabric is conducted from the roller 16 beneath the roll 55 above the roll 54 and beneath the roll 53 and thence in operative relation to the scrapers 57, 62 and 63 to the conducting roller 18, the frame carrying the rolls, 53, 54 and 55 being depressed from its elevated inactive position indicated in Fig. 3 to' the submerged position indicated in Fig. 4.

When the machine is used for impregnat ing the web of material is advantageously supplied (as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 3) from a point adjacent the tank whence it is conducted above the'roll 55 below the roll 54 and above the roll 53 and thence between the squeeze rolls 81 and 82 and then to the conducting roller 18, the rolls 53,54 and 55 being immersed within the composition as before.

Where the machine is used for both double and single coating, as whereit is desired to first double coat or impregnate the fabric and then to apply to one side thereof a surface coating of a different composition, the Web of fabric is advantageously conducted around the rolls 53, 54 and 55 (Fig. 4) and from the roll 53 is introduced between the periphery of the ductor roll 74, thereafter,

having the surplus material removed by the scraper 84 and led over the rollers 76 and 77 to the conducting roller 18. The scraper 84 is angularly admstable by means of the hand wheel 85 in a manner similar to that of the scraper 57.

It not infrequently happens in practice that it becomes necessary to temporarily stop the operation of the machine, in which case the coating rolls are elevated so as to bring the fabric out of coating relation to the composition or the ductor roll. This causes the composition to run, there being no well defined line of demarcation between the coated and uncoated fabric and it is difficult, if not impossible to renew the coating operation so as to efl e ct a perfect junction of the portionscoated at different times. The result has been a considerable waste of material due to the necessity of renewing the coating operations at a point separated by a considerable space from the previously coated portion. It is necessary to l'ft the fabric out of coating position for the reason that otherwise the coating composition would be applied at that point much more thickly and the fabric would be burned by the hot composition. I

In order to prevent waste of material and inequality of product provision is herein made for reversing the direction of travel of the web of fabric so as to bring the rear end of the coated portion back into an operative relation to the tank and enable the newly coated portion to properly continue where the previously coated portion terminated.

The difiiculty is encountered, however, that if the coated portion of the fabric be given a reverse movement considerable slack will be entailed in the uncoated fabric and it is necessary to take up or absorb this slack. To accomplish this purpose the tensioning and rewinding member 15 is formed as a reel composed preferably of two rectangular members 15 and 15 suitably secured to,- gether at their extremities in spaced relation so as to provide between their diametrically opposed faces a slit through which the web 11 passes. By angularly adjusting the members 15 and 15 as an entirety the tension upon the fabric 11 maybe increased or diminished as is well known. In addition to the angular adjustment of the tensioning device 15 provision is made by means of the I clutch 42 for rotatively connecting the said reel with the counter shaft 31 so that when the direction of travel of the coated fabric 11 is reversed the reel 15 will be rotated and, as indicated in Fig. 5, will wind thereon the uncoated fabric so as to take up the slack therein and permit the tension to be maintained upon the fabricas it is moved backward to a position for the coating-to be renewed. Thereupon as the fabric resumes its forward direction of travel the accumulation of fabric upon the slack absorber 15 is supplied to the coating mechanism until it is exhausted and the slack absorber having returned to its original position operates as v a tensioning member or as an idle guiding device only.

As the fabric is led'from the coating tank it is supported upon and conducted by the several conducting rollers 18, 19, 20 and 21 through a sufficiently extended path to enable the coating to become thoroughly set and it is then led through the dusting box 22 containing a suitable powder such as talc by which the coated surface is so treated as to guard against subsequent sticking of the several layers of fabric when wound upon a take-up drum. The surplus powder is removed from the fabric by means of the dusting brushes 23 after which the fabric is conducted under tension to the take-up drum.

, The connections between the hand lever 40 and the several parts of the mechanism by means of the control wires 39 and their branches is such as to enable the operator by one movement of the lever to manipulate the difierent clutches so as to causethe fabric to move in either direction, to cause the reel to take up and to give out the slack, to conuctsought to be obtained.

While the control wires for the various clutches may all be connected to the one op eratinglever 40 as before stated, it is found advantageous as shown in Fig. 1 to employ a second lever 40 from which independent control wires lead to the wires 41 of the clutch lever 42 of the tension and take-up reel 15. so that the angular adjustment of the reel may be controlled independently of the direction of travel of the fabric in order to exert more or less tension on the fabric. By adjusting the position of this clutch, preferably operating by friction, the reel may be given a constant tendency torotate, thus tensioning the fabric passing through the same in its forward movement. By connecting the levers 40 and 40 they may be caused to operate in unison, thus obtaining the same effect as when the lever 40 is common to all the control wires.

In order to provide that the brushes 23 shall be inactive in the reverse direction of fabric-movement and also when the fabric is stationary, the clutch lever 43 isconnected with the control wires 39 il1 l1Ch manner as to allow for lost motion between set collars 43 and 43 carried by one of the wires 39 and adapted to engage on the opposite sides of the lever 43 through which said control wire is threaded as shown in Fig. 7

Thus 1S0 tension upon the fabric and to rotate the same whereby to wind the fabric thereon to absorb slack, substantially as described.

2. In a machine for coating fabric, coating mechanism, means to conduct the fabric to and from the coating mechanism, means to reverse the direction of travel of the fabric, a split reel traversed by the fabric, and means to rotate the reel whereby to wind the fabric thereon to absorb slack as the direction of travel'is reversed, substantially as described.

3. In a machine for coating fabric, coating mechanism, means to conduct the fabric to and from the coating mechanism, means to reverse the direction of travel of the fabric, a split reel traversed bythe fabric, means to rotate the reel, and a connection between the means for reversing the travel of the fabric and the meansfor rotating the reel whereby to operate the same in unison to absorb the slack in the fabric as the direction of movement is reversed, substan tially as described.

4. In a machine for coating fabric, coating mechanism, means to conduct the fabric to and from the coating mechanism, means to reverse the direction of travel of the fabric, a rectangular wheel split diametrically for the passage of the fabric therethrough, and means operating simultaneously with the reversal of the movement of the coated fabric torotate the reel in order to absorb the resulting slack in the uncoated fabric, substantially as described.

5. In a machine for coating fabric, coating mechanism, means to conduct the fabric to and from the coating mechanism, means to reversethe direction of travel of the fabric, a dusting chamber traversed by the coated fabric, brushes rotatably mounted therein to act on the fabric, and means acting simultaneously with the reversal of the fabric movement to intermit the action of the brushes on the fabric, substantially as described.

6. In a machine for coating fabric, coating mechanism, means to conduct the fabric to and from the coating mechanism, means to reverse the direction of travel of the fabric, a dusting chamber traversed by the coated fabric, brushes rotatably mounted therein to act on the fabric, a split reel traversed by the fabric, and means acting simultaneously with the reversal of the fabric movement to intermit the action of the brushes on thefabric and to rotate the reel, whereby to wind the fabric thereon and absorb the slack therein, substantially as described.

7. In a machine for coating fabric, coating mechanism, means to conduct the fabric to and from the coating mechanism, means to reverse the direction of travel of the fabric, a dusting chamber traversed by the coated fabric, brushes rotatably mounted therein to act on the fabric, a split reel traversed by the fabric, and means acting simultaneously with the reversal of the fabric movement to intermit the action of the brushes on the fabric and to rotate the reel, whereby to wind the fabric thereon and absorb the slack therein, means for varying the speed of travel of the fabric, unitary manually operable means connected with the speed control, the direction of movement, the

brushes and the reel whereby all may be simultaneously controlled, substantially as described.

JOHN F. WHITE. LABRON BL ROSS. Witnesses:

Lnwrs T. GREIST, MARY C. BROWER. 

